Northern Nevada’s McDermitt Caldera is becoming a focal point in the national rush for “critical minerals.” The region holds major lithium deposits, but it is also sagebrush habitat for sage-grouse, home to Lahontan cutthroat trout and rare plants, ancestral land for Tribal nations, and working range for local ranchers.

The proposed McDermitt Lithium project has been fast-tracked for exploration, with plans for 168 drill sites and more than 21 miles of new access roads. Advocates are raising serious questions about groundwater use in an already stressed basin, habitat fragmentation, Tribal consultation, and whether the public had adequate opportunity to weigh in.

WHY THIS MATTERS FOR NEVADA

Water is already scarce.
The proposed drilling could require pumping an estimated 31.5 million gallons of groundwater. The McDermitt Creek/Quinn River basin has long faced groundwater pressure, and Nevada has denied further groundwater applications there for decades. Any review must take seriously the impacts on springs, streams, wildlife, ranching, and existing water users.

Wildlife protections cannot be an afterthought.
The project area includes high-quality sage-grouse habitat and active breeding grounds. Sage-grouse depend on intact sagebrush landscapes, which are already being lost to wildfire, invasive species, climate change, and development. Roads, drilling, noise, lights, and disturbed soil can fragment habitat and further weaken a struggling population.

Tribal consultation must be meaningful, early, and ongoing.
For Fort McDermitt Paiute, Shoshone, Bannock, and other Indigenous people, this is ancestral land with cultural sites, burial grounds, hunting areas, and places where traditional foods and medicines are gathered. Consultation cannot simply mean notice after major decisions are underway; it must include real opportunity to shape outcomes.

Rural livelihoods deserve protection.
Local ranchers fear losing grazing access and water infrastructure while carrying the impacts of industrial activity. A just transition must not pit renewable-energy extraction against families who have cared for these landscapes and rely on them for their livelihoods.

Nevada should not have to choose between clean-energy materials and healthy communities.

We need a critical-minerals policy that protects scarce water, honors Tribal sovereignty, safeguards wildlife, respects rural livelihoods, requires strong reclamation, and ensures the public, not corporations, benefits from resources taken from public lands.

A clean-energy future must also be a just one.